Renegades
by METALMAN17
Summary: A groups of mutants meet on the streets of New York to fight back against the Mutant Control Agency and the Friends of Humanity. Sorry... Iv'e been very busy but now chapter 3 is up!. Please RR
1. This cruel city has mercy for no one

Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at making a Fanfic so please tell me what you think! I'm open to any criticisms or comments. If I get good reviews, I'll keep doing what I'm doing. If I get bad, I might change a few things. Please Read and Rate!!!!!! It's the only way I'll know what to do to make the story better!!!! Thnx everyone! PEACE OUT  
  
(The oh-so necessary disclaimer: I don't own X-men or anything related to it. If my OC's somehow are actual X-men or come across as some kind of X- men copy, then wow cause I thought they were original (Except for Syren. I took her from the Movie))  
  
Tripp Striker stood out in the open, not caring about who could see them. He was way past that by now. He didn't care that he was wanted, wanted by just about everyone that gave a shit about mutants. He was a mutant, which was dangerous enough but, to complicate matters, He was a wanted mutant. Wanted by the government, wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D., wanted by H.Y.D.R.A., wanted by Friends of Humanity, wanted by the Mutant Control Association and by about a dozen foreign governments. Not that any of this mattered of course.  
  
Tripp had managed to defy the odds again and again. He escaped from H.Y.D.R.A.; from they're anti mutant army in which he had spent his entire childhood training to kill until he was 16. Shortly after he turned 16, he was returning to his bunker for the night when he heard one of the chief commanders talking to one of the head scientist about the progress of the army. For some reason, he decided to listen in on the conversation. It was then that he found out the truth about the army. They were genetically engineered mutants, born in a lab and made for one purpose: to wipe out the rest of the mutant population on earth.  
  
He couldn't believe the truth. All his life he was raised on lies. He was trained to kill his own and then be killed themselves. He quickly hurried back to his bunker before he was late and settled in for the night. As the lights went off, he pondered his existence and what he should do. He could not go on training any longer, knowing now what they were training them for. What could he do? It then hit him: escape. It would be very risky and the chances were good that he would be caught, but he must do it, he though to himself. His mid raced for the rest of the night, pondering what he could do to escape. Eventually, he came up with a plan. He would steal some explosives and blow up the training yard and escape, knowing that they would be too preoccupied with the explosions to think about him.  
  
Over the next couple of weeks, he put his plan to action, stealing C-4 explosives from the armory. It was very risky and he almost got caught once. He had gather roughly enough for a dozen when he decided to go through with his plan. On that night, a cold, snowy night in December, he pretended to be asleep in his bed, waiting until everyone around him fell asleep. He then proceeded to get out of bed with the utmost carefulness. He slipped out of the main room, into a hallway and then out of a window nearby. As he climbed out, he planted one of the explosives around the door, ensuring that his fellow soldiers would not stop him. He then proceeded to hit the remainder of the bunkers, along with the 4 watchtowers, the armory and the officer's quarters. He had set all 12 to go off at 12:00 PM exactly. He had finished his work a couple of minutes prior to midnight so he sat and waited, preparing for the pandemonium that would soon follow.  
  
At 12:00 precise, a chorus of explosion went off throughout the camp. Screams of horror and panic quickly followed as eh lay in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to run. Eventually, through the panic of people running around and sirens blaring, he saw his chance. The south watchtower completely deserted and the gate was all but demolished. He cautiously started out for it, being careful not to be seen. As he neared the last building, he broke out into an all out run, moving as quickly as he could. He reached the tower and didn't look back, running into the woods.  
  
For about 3 weeks, he had managed to stay alive and avoid being caught. He soon found his way out of the woods and near a train station. He hopped onto the first one he saw and rode all the way to New York City in a cargo hold. As he got off the train, he was overtaken by the cities size. It was bigger then anything he could've possibly imagined. As he wandered the streets, he walked into a figure in an orange shroud with a shaved head. The figure turned around to reveal an old, oriental man. "You look lost and confused," said the man, much to the Shock of Tripp. He had been trained in H.Y.D.R.A. to just say sorry to "sorry" to anyone he bumped into. "Sorry" he said in an almost robotic like voice before turning to continuing on his way. "You look like you could use some guidance." the man spoke once more, a wise tone to his voice. "Well I could use some guidance." He said Sheepishly. I'm on my own now, I'll need all the help I can get he thought.  
  
The old man invited him back to his house, a small apartment in a large tenement. His house was furnished with a lot of beads and oriental patterns, intriguing Tripp. The two soon settled down and started along long lengthy talk. One Tripp was sure he could trust him, He told him about his past, about the training camp, about the army and about his escape. The old man took this in and sat there sorting out the information in his head. He sat for about 5 minutes, contemplating the situation of the young man he had just brought into his house. At last, he spoke: "You have obviously had a rough life, one coated in violence in lies. If you work with me, I'll work with you and help you to learn the truths of life and the way's of the world". Tripp though for a minute then agreed.  
  
He moved in and soon started learning learning about stuff he never even though about before. The old man thought him of history and current affairs, the ways of Buddhism, psychology of humans and how to mediate. He soon started mediating and actively practicing Buddhism. About 3 moths after he had moved in, Tripp was reading the newspaper when he came across an article about the formation of the Mutant Control Agency or MCA as it was called. The article went on to give an official statement from them that finally pushed Tripp over the edge: "No mutant will ever step foot on these streets and be safe!" As he finished reading this, his anger got the best of him and he trough the newspaper to the ground and let out a cry of anger from him. He soon settled down but as he did, he made a decision: he would go out to rescue and unite the mutants on the streets.  
  
He soon set out and was lucky enough to find other mutants like him that shared his belief of rising up against the MCA and joined him, soon attacking back against patrols and bombing MCA posts. The "Renegades" as they were called, had managed to put down one of the MCA's head posts, the MCA really got angry made a public announcement: "Whatever scum it is who is behind the attacks on our posts, we will find you and you will pay!" This only provoked more attacks against them and soon, all out war was being fought. The fighting had recently died down in the current month, thus giving Tripp and his Renegades more time to relax.  
  
As his mind came back to the present, he and his band of Mutant rebels were now sitting by a stoop on a crowded New York avenue, watching the people as they passed by. It was only 7 in the morning, but the day was bustling with activity as the workers went to their jobs, not knowing that they were passing an international mutant terrorist group that had managed to fend off any threat that opposed them. Of course, none of them could ever know. They looked like a regular groups of homeless teens on the street.  
  
He continued to sit there, taking in his surroundings. He was nonchalantly sitting on the stoop, sipping some Jack Daniels out of his silver flask. He reveled in its taste as he sipped it nonchalantly, knowing that the police wouldn't hesitate in arresting his ass and throwing him strait into a prison cell. The cops hated homeless people and were always looking to get rid of them. "Let them try." He thought to himself. He could take them easily. He had taken on people 3 times his size and beaten them easily. He had managed to almost always come out on top. Maybe it was his skill or maybe it was just his luck.  
  
He shifted over, looking at his team. They were a mixed bunch, mostly mutant teens from abusive homes that ran away and lived on the streets. Some of them preferred rough hard street punk; some enjoyed heavy metal pounding their skulls, while a few listened to Goth/industrial. They all dressed differently and their attitudes made them seem like they were from different planets. But they all shared one thing in common though: They all wanted unity and peace between mutants and humans and they were prepared to take any actions to do it. That one fact united them all in their efforts at achieving peace.  
  
As he looked them over, he remembered how they all came to him. Edge was the first to join him. He was currently sitting on the bottom step, scowling at the people that dared to look at them. He had rough, spiked green hair and deep brown eyes that could tell of a battle. Although he was only 15, he looked at least 18 because of the hard life he led. He was quite formidable looking, with his patch covered jacket and his spiked choker. What made him even more dangerous though was his power: he could produce metal spikes and objects from his body. When he had first met Edge, his power was very uncontrolled. A sneeze could send spikes flying, making him very dangerous to be around. But as he trained him, he gained control over his power. Enabling him to hold back his spikes and in time, shape them into different things. Out of all the others, Edge was quite arguably the best leader. He seldom let his emotions get the best of him and was always conscientious of his friends. That's why he put hi in charge as a secondary leader.  
  
Across from Edge was Plasma. She was a very rugged girl, you could tell it just by looking at her. She was 15, had very dirty brown hair, brown eyes, rather revealing clothing and the look on her face was practically and invite to any male, though she never went passed flirting. Her power helped assure this being that she could shock anyone within 10 feet of her. Her power might have also begun as a result of the hard life she led. Her parents never really liked her, and her mother beat her often, being that she was jealous of her daughter's good looks. She had soon run away and caught up with his group. Despite her appearance, she was generally tender and friendly. She liked children and was always kind to those who were nice to her. Piss her off though and you'd regret it.  
  
Just as he was looking at her, a burst of laughter came from behind her. He looked up to see Hydro and Rocky, the second and third to join the group, laughing quite hard and pointing. At first he wasn't sure what was so funny, but then he looked at what they were pointing at and it became clear. They had tactfully placed an "I FUCK NUNS" sticker on a business mans briefcase. The other teens soon took notice and laughed hard as well. The little incident reminded him of when they first met.  
  
It had been about 3 months since he escaped from the camp and met Edge. He was waiting outside a grocery store as Edge went to buy some food. As he was waiting, He started to hear shouting from behind the building. At first he though nothing of it, but then he started to hear what they were saying. He heard the words "Mutie!" "Damn" and "Die!" all in the same sentence, and immediately decided to investigate. He ran around to the back of the building to see a group of teens, most of them jocks, surrounding two small preteens.  
  
What made the situation very interesting was that neither of the boys were scared. One of them was roughly 5 feet tall, with a leather jacket and ripped black pants. The other was a tall, lanky punk, with spiked blue hair and grungy, Salvation Army bought clothes. They both had defiant looks on their faces as they faced off against a load of muscular jocks at least twice their size.  
  
Without warning, one of them lunged at the short one, only to be stopped in midair. He fell flatly to the ground with a thud, revealing the short boys altered body state. His skin was now very gray and pale. Taking a second look, he saw that the boy's body had taken a rock like property, making him stone hard. The group of teens had become discouraged after this, but continued to attack. The short boy continued to pummel them with his rock hard fists. While that went on, the tall one demonstrated his karate skills by agilely kicking two jocks into a dumpster. As he did so, a jock came charging at him from behind unexpectedly.  
  
The boy was caught boy surprise as the enraged jock grabbed him. He raised his fist in the air, preparing to give an earth shattering punch, and then flung his fist down. He was expecting to hear the sound of bones crunching but, just before the fist hit his face, the boy's body seemed to liquidate. In less then a second he had turned to a puddle of water. This surprised the jock, who stepped back with a confused look on his face. As he did, the puddle sprung up in the air and reassembled itself in the shape of the boy, then became solid. Wasting no time, he delivered a quick punch and kick, sending the thug flying back.  
  
It didn't take long for the teens to realize they had bit off more then they could chew, and they quickly ran away. Both boys started to relax and gather themselves, a hint of satisfaction and whooping the jocks. He quickly went over and called out to them. At first they were cautious of him, but when he showed them that he was a mutant like them, they relaxed a lot more. He talked to them a bit more, and started to learn more about them. They had both come from abusive homes, ran away and met in the city and were living by stealing a lying. He told them of his plans and insights, and they agreed to join him. Ever since that day, they were an active part of the team and brought a lighter side to their work, playing gags here a there to relive the tension. Although they were both 13 and pretty young, they worked as hard as the rest of the team, and were definitely an important asset to the team.  
  
Coming back to reality, he slowly shifted glances from his comical teammates to the more secluded members. A small girl of about 15 with Dark hair and eyes caught his attention. Shade. She was the smallest member of the group, but quite arguably the most mature. They had found her huddled behind a dumpster, shivering and petrified.  
  
He remembered how when he first approached her, she recoiled with a stinging look of fear in her eyes. Looking at him like he had just kicked her. The memory made him shudder. She was a lot better adjusted now; she would talk to people if talked to, but would usually be sarcastic and negative, though that was her normal mood. She was a born pessimist and a natural smart mouth, but hey, that's who she is.  
  
Across from her was Syren, beautiful, seductive and very dangerous yet only 15. She had bright radiant blonde hair and deep, piercing blue eyes. Her body was slim and extremely tan, looking like she just came back from a trip from the tropics. She was the kind of girl men fantasized about in their sleep. Her power was much like her image, an ear shattering and mind- numbing scream that would usually leave the victim squirming in the ground, begging for the noise to stop. She especially liked to use her power when clubbing, leaving a bunch of arrogant, cocky perverts a reaction they never dreamed of experiencing. Her accent was the only thing that shattered he city girl image. She was born in Alabama, and her accent had always been strong. It was pretty much the only thing she really wanted to change about herself.  
  
As he was pondering, a tall, muscular figure came over and sat next to him. He could recognize that figure anywhere. Mystic. Mystic was a rather interesting member of the group. He had strong broad shoulders, a muscular 6-pack chest and a tan that looked like he came from Hawaii. Considering he was 16, He had extremely good looks for his age. Another thing that made him different from the group was the fact that he didn't come from a poor or abusive home, but from an Indian preservation in South Dakota.  
  
He had come to the city after running away from a foster home. The government split him and his parents apart, citing that their lifestyle was dangerous for him. He didn't spend more then a day in the home before fleeing it and hopping on the first train he saw. By chance, it happened to land in NY before the conductor found him and threw him off. He had wandered around for a month before reaching the city. It was also his luck that he ran into the groups of mutants and soon joined.  
  
At first he didn't think he had any mutant powers, but soon, they discovered something about him that even he didn't know. While growing up, he had practiced the old Indian healing magic his grandfather had taught him. He practiced his medicine on mostly the people in his tribe and was set to take over as the official medicine man of his tribe when his grandfather could no longer. But that chance never came, as the government split up him and his family. The first time he ever practiced his healing was when Edge had come home hurt after getting into a fight with some thugs. He had a huge gash across his left arm that kept him from using it. As the rest of the young mutants tried bandaging it, Mystic decided to give his magic a try. He simply placed his hand against the blood, concentrating his mental focus on healing, and slid it down the gash, making it disappear as he did so. To say this shocked everyone would be an understatement. Mystic wasn't sure of why everyone was in shock, but they explained to him the ways of modern medicine and he soon found himself shocked too. He became an active member of the team afterwards, with his newfound power of healing.  
  
As he was thinking, someone behind him touched him. He turned around to see a very bored and tired looking 16 year old Hispanic female looking at him with a look of pure boredom. "Can we do something, already?" she asked, her voice thick with annoyance. "We will soon enough, Vortex" he responded. She gave him a look that seamed to promise death if he did not carry out his promise. She was quite debatably the most out-of-place member of the group. She wore Salvation Army bought clothes, yet they were relatively normal to the punk and biker getups most of the group was wearing. She had this look on her face too that hinted of a well bred past. He had assumed this since the day they had met her. She had almost perfect English, almost never using slang. It really made him wonder how she was raised.  
  
"Hey, everyone!" He called out suddenly, disrupting the conversations going on around him as they snapped to attention. "We all got to live, and if we wanna live, we gotta get busy. Edge, Hydro, Rocky and Shade, go rip off some stupid Yuppie Tourists. Take all that you can," He said as they started off towards the center of the city. "Plasma, Vortex and Syren, you'd better get started on your seducing". As he said the words, big smiles broke across all the girls' faces. "No prob" Syren responded, quite happy with the work she was about to do. "Mystic, you can come with me. We'll see if we can find out anything about the Friends of Humanity or The MCA. They haven't bothered us for a bit, so I'm guessing their plotting something. Mystic nodded coolly and soon the entire group was off. It was another day, another fight for survival, and they sure as hell weren't about to lose.  
  
Well, that the first chapter. The next ones will be from the other characters in the story, to give a good description of them. I will bring in the rest of the X-men cast later on. Thank you to the people who actually bothered to read my story, PEACE OUT 


	2. Living on the Edge

Hello everyone! I'm back. Took me a while to write this story, mainly cause I kept changing the idea and theme, but it's finally done ready for you to enjoy. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter done sometime in mid January, but first I must know what you think: Should I do some more character perspectives of their surroundings or should I go on with the story and have them meet the X-men and Brotherhood? The choice is in your hands, choose wisely! Thank you all!  
  
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Edge slowly walked down the street, looking for an unexpecting tourist to rip off. He soon spotted his target: a young couple in khaki's, looking over the tables of street vendors and secretly whispering to one another. He carefully moved up behind them then, in one swift motion, dove into the husbands back pocket with the utmost carefulness and pulled out a wallet. Quickly sneaking into an alley, he started to count the money inside: about $250 and a Visa card. "Not to shabby." he thought to himself. His skills as a thief for quite formidable, but his skills as a fighter were even more impressive.  
  
Knowing that as soon as the man noticed his wallet was missing he'd go and call the company to get it shut off, Edge knew he would have to spend it quickly. He figured he'd go and get some groceries first, being that they were always in need of food. The group was made up of teens, most of them growing through growth spurts, so nutritional food was considered a necessity, not to mention that they were always willing to give food to the other homeless people in the area so they were almost always low on food.  
  
Edge quietly walked into a nearby grocery store, one he knew the manager would not ask questions about the card, and proceeded to grab some cereals and fruit. From experience, he already knew how the rest of the group would react towards his choices: Hydro, Plasma and Rocky were pretty much happy with just filling their stomachs with crap and rarely ate anything healthy, Vortex and Syren were picky and didn't eat anything that even looked remotely dirty (thus limiting the amount of food that was "edible" to them), Mystic preferred to make his own kind of food that he was used to eating back on the preservation, food that mainly consisted of strange foreign plants that he had never of heard of in his life, Shade seemed to not to eat but he knew that she did because food there was always less food in the morning that before and Tripp seemed to almost consist of a diet of fast food and beer.  
  
Edge gathered a few more vegetables before heading towards the counter. On the way, he also grabbed a few bags of Doritos and a few cans of cola just to please Hydro and Rocky. He knew that despite their tough guy attitudes, they were still kids. "Hell, there were only 13, they shouldn't have to deal with this crap!" This thought suddenly seemed to scream through his head, shocking him "Why did I just think that?" he almost said aloud. He quickly shook it off and proceeded to checkout counter. The clerk ringed up the purchase and asked for payment. Edge gave him the card and leaned back coolly, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. The clerk ran it through the scanner and it came back good. He let out a sigh of relief as it did. The clerk seemed to eye him suspiciously but Edge quickly grabbed his groceries and left.  
  
As he left the store, he had only one goal in mind: To get home with his food safely. The streets of NYC were not known for their kindness, especially not to anyone with goods in their hands. He rounded the corner and continued back to 1617 Rockford Avenue. It was the address of the squat they lived in. It was an old abandon factory just about ready to cave in on itself, but they considered it home. They had lived in it for just about a year but they were used to practically every little thing about it: the cracking paint on the walls, the squeaking floors, the idle machinery, and the broken windows. It all seemed to be normal now. Normal to be live in poverty. Normal to be surrounded by hatred and violence. Normal to steal and cheat for a living. Normal to face death every single day. It was quite amazing how use he had gotten to all of this. "Never really thought I'd ever have to deal with these sorts of things when I was little". As he thought about it, his past seemed to come back to life.  
  
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The world seemed to travel back about decade, back to when he was a mere five. Back when all was right in his world, where his parents loved him more than anything. Or at least he thought that they did. That soon all changed shortly after he turned 13. That was when his perfect world ended and was replaced by a nightmare that he couldn't escape from. It was the day when the Friends of Humanity came to his town and life changed forever.  
  
It was a peaceful Saturday afternoon. Edge (or Jake as was his original name) had just gotten back from playing football with a group of his friends and was walking inside the door when he saw him mom and dad talking with a group of strangers he never even saw before. He was thinking of just walking inside but something in the back of his mind told him to just stay out in the hallway and listen in. As he did, he started to hear the conversation grow more heated and angry. He wasn't sure what it was about but something told him he didn't want to know. He waited outside the hallway until he heard them get up. At that moment, he quickly snuck away from the hallway and into his room. He waited quietly until he was sure they were all gone then came out of his room.  
  
He walked into the living room to find his parents sitting on the coach, almost like they were waiting for him. "Can you come sit down for a minute honey," his mom replied with a smile. He quietly entered and sat down on the couch opposite of them. His mother seemed to have something very important to say, which was unusual cause she rarely talked at all. "An important issue has come up." His dad started. Edge could tell that by the tone in his voice that he was serious. Usually when his father talked he had a very laid back feel to it. This troubled him a lot, knowing that the last serious conversation he had with his father was when his grandmother died. Edge sat back and braced himself for whatever it was his parents were about to tell him. "There is growing problem within our community. There are people that have special powers ". "So why's that a bad thing?" Edge asked in confusion. "They aren't like us, son. They abuse their powers and use them to destroy people like us. They look like us but are not anything like us. They are evil. Their called Mutants and they are our enemy".  
  
Those last 4 words sunk into him as his dad spoke them. He had been taught to not make judgments on anyone without knowing them. Why his dad was already so prejudiced against a group of people he didn't know troubled him. It was out of his dad's character. He went to bed that night, pondering the events that took place earlier. He lay their wondering about these "mutants". His dad made them seem like they were evil creatures that were created just for the sole purpose of destroying humans, but could they really be that bad? That question kept him awake for the rest of the night.  
  
A week after the incident, Edge was in his kitchen, eating breakfast and watching cartoons. It was a typical weekend morning when his show was suddenly interrupted by a news bulletin. At first he was a bit pissed at missing his shows, but the story soon caught his attention. "This just in, congress has passed the first in measure against the "mutant menace" by enacting the mutant registration act. This bill will require all mutants to identify themselves to the FBI, listing their names, powers and living area. Although these records will not be available to the public, the government will use them to keep a close eye on all mutants and act if they become "Uncontrollable". Mutant activists have immediately rallied against this new law. Professor Charles Xavier, a self confessed mutant, made the following speech earlier:" The image on the TV shifted to an old man in a wheelchair. His head was bald and he looked like a college professor. His striking features had made Edge pay especially close attention to his speech. "I would ask that the American public please listen to us!" He said with a type of nervous, desperate tone. "I know that many of you are worried about our abilities and special powers, but let me assure you that you are prejudging us and that we are just like you. We want to maintain peace and work together to create a better tomorrow. All I ask is for your understanding."  
  
Edge had turned off the TV after that. The whole matter of mutants had been all he could think about for the past week and after the story, he could no longer ignore it. He had to find out what all the talk about mutants was about. His parents were out so he could easily leave his house without being noticed. HE hopped on his bike and rode over to the only place he could think of that would have information on mutants: the library. He had been able to find information on just about everything there so he figured he could at least find some information on mutants. The ride was about 15 minutes before he reached it. He went inside and immediately went up to the library catalog, pulling out the M tray. Much to his displeasure, he found nothing about mutants. He sat down at table nearby, sighing in defeat. He sat there for a few minutes before preparing to get up and leave, but as he did, something stopped him strait in his tracks.  
  
Their was a girl, no more then 17 years old, standing their arguing with another teen the same age. Normally he would have just ignored the situation, but one thing really stood out: They were doing a lot more then arguing, they looked like they were about to go head to head in a death match over whatever it was they were fighting about. Becoming entranced by the argument, Edge moved in closer to better hear what they were saying. "Why do you have to be such a dickhead? You claim you're not racist but you're already about to go out and attack a bunch of people just because some dumb fuck tells you their Dangerous!" The girl lashed out at the boy. "Because mutants are dangerous! You and me both know that mutants are capable of mass destruction, and if we just keep letting them run wild around wild they'll destroy us!" He countered. "You'd probably just lock them all away in a concentration camp if you could". "Why not? They threaten me, I'm not going to tolerate it!" They continued yelling at each other until a librarian came up to them and asked them to leave. As she left, Edge followed her outside, hoping to find the answers to his questions.  
  
He caught up with her outside and called out to her. "Wait up!" he shouted, "I want to ask you some questions!" She turned around, quite surprised to see a boy following behind her. She stopped in her tracks and turned towards him. "What is it?" she asked suspiciously. Panting as he caught up with her, he explained his interest in mutants and his attempts to figure out what the issue was. After hearing this, the girl stood there for a minute thoughtfully, and then replied, "Come with me. Will talk about it at my house" Edge hopped on his bike and followed suit. It took a good amount of uphill peddling before he finally reached his destination: a small, old- looking house on the outskirts of town. By looking at it you could tell the house had been through a battle. The paint was peeling off; a couple of the windows were cracked and the front yard looked like it hadn't been cared for years. The girl motioned for Edge to follow her inside and he complied. As he walked through the doors inside, Edge was amazed at what he saw.  
  
The place was run down, but it was barely noticeable as tons of concert flyers and posters covered the wall and where there were no flyers there were holes. The place had a grunge feel to it with most of the furniture was run down and looked like it had been pulled from the trash and the coffee table in the living room was pretty much a board with cement blocks supporting it. Edge found a spot on the couch and sat down while the girl went into a nearby room to get something. She remerged shortly with some pamphlets and other reading material. "I'll start with the basics on mutant rights and teach you from there." And with that, they started. She went over with him what mutants were, why people were prejudiced against them, a couple of key figures in mutant issues and why she believed what she did. After about 3 hours, she finished, leaving a very exasperated Edge. His mind was in turbo drive from all the ideas that had been flying around in it.  
  
Coming back to the real word, he looked at his watch and saw that it was time to go. Dinner would be soon. He told her he had to leave and they said goodbye. "Oh, wait a minute." he started "I never got your name. "Jessie" she replied simply and with that, Edge went home. At dinner, his parents seemed to be their normal, happy go lucky selves, his dad talking about work and his mom about the chores she did around the house. He quickly finished his food before they had a chance to ask him any questions about his day and retired to his room. Once inside, he pulled outs some of the materials that Jessie had given him and started reading. Although he went there to learn about mutants, she had also given him materials on animal rights, globalization, poverty and environmental issues. His mind started spinning, looking over each pamphlet like it contained the meaning of life. Each sentence revealed a world that seemed to be far away and distant, but in reality was right in his, own neighborhood.  
  
Over the next couple of months, he read even more into issues, seeking out books by Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore. He started shopping at Salvation Army and Goodwill stores, now wanting to support globalism. He started to listen to underground bands like Minor Threat, Against Me and Leftover Crack. His parents seemed to take notice into this too and started to worry. They had raised him in a typical conservative manner and his sudden interest in such radical theories started to scare them. They would constantly ask him what he was doing or where he was going, which often led to fights between him and his parents. One night, Edge snuck out to go to a concert, one that his parents had strictly forbid him to go to, and met up with his new friends. Since he started becoming more globally aware, his old friends seemed to almost avoid him, seeing him less and less and eventually just stopped seeing each other at all. Since then, he found friendship in other kids, mostly lower class punks that he used to make fun of behind his back. He had soon come to realize that they were a lot more fun to hang around with then his old friends and wouldn't dick him over either. He met them at the entrance and proceeded in too a moshing, head- banging paradise. After what seemed like an entire night, the show was over and Edge decided t go home. He wasn't wearing a watch, so he had no idea what time it was when he got back. He quietly snuck into his room, thinking that no one was there until a light switch went on to expose his parents standing in the doorway to his room, angered expressions on their faces.  
  
"It's time we had a little talk." His dad's voice trailed off. He then motioned for Edge to follow him. Edge sighed then slowly obeyed. They walked down the stairs, into the living room and sat down. His parents sat their for a minute then finally spoke: " Jake, I don't know what's gotten into you, but I don't like it one bit. You've changed your entire lifestyle practically in one month. You seem to like being poor and filthy. This is unacceptable!" his fathers voice increasingly becoming angrier. This time he knew that his parents were really pissed off and that they were really gonna come down this time. "You're our son and we love you" his mom cut in lightly. "But this has gone on long enough. Either you change all this right now or leave our house".  
  
The words seemed to crash down upon him. All his life his parents said they would love him unconditionally but now he knew that was nothing more then a lie. They would only love him under their conditions. No exceptions. Edge slowly rose up and looked at his parents. They had taken care of him his entire life. They had been their from the day he was born to protect him and comfort him. They loved him. Or so he thought. They were now staring at him with a mixture of nervousness and determination. He now had to decide whether to destroy his newfound consciousness of the world and return to his previous state of ignorance or to destroy his relationship with the only people that ever loved him truly. He took a deep breath and then uttered the words that would shape his destiny. "I'll leave".  
  
He immediately walked up to his room and grabbed his backpack and started to shove the meager things he needed. His new clothes he had bought from Salvation Army, some CD's he had gotten from shows, his CD player, his notebook he'd write in and some old punk zines he had. He shoved them in and headed out his door. On the way out, he glanced around the room, knowing it could be the last time he ever saw it. He breathed deeply and walked out of his room, down the stairs and towards the front door where his parents were waiting. His mom's expression now showed signs of worry and sadness but his dads remained the same. He turned to face them one last time, gazing deep into their expressions. Then, with a deep breathy, he uttered the words goodbye and walked out the door.  
  
He was running now. He had started off walking away but that soon turned to a jog and then that into a full gallop. His head was spinning as he ran down the empty street. The only people in the world that truly loved him had just shunned him and now he was all alone. The thought burned into his mind, causing his eyes to slightly tear up as he continued to run down the street blindly. He finally reached the end of the street and stopped running. He broke down, falling to his knees. Now he started to think: "What will I do? Where will I go? Will I survive? These thoughts brought him into a trance where he was oblivious to reality. The real world seemed to be a distant place now as the thoughts consumed him. Oblivious to him, a car had just pulled up behind him and the occupants were now getting out.  
  
"Hey look. Its that damn mutant lover!" The words snapped Edge back into reality "Going around school with his damn pro mutant bullshit! He needs a good ass kicking to put him in his place. Edge spun around quickly to see who it was that was surrounding him. As he looked, he saw 3 boys come out of the car, all tall and muscular. He couldn't recognize 2 of them but the other one he recognized easily. Nate Callaway. A jock from his school that loved to pick on anyone who was weaker then him and hated anyone who disagreed with him. He had pretty much run the high school with his band of cronies until one day, Edge and a group of his friends stood up to him and fought him. Edge managed to fracture his Nate's arm, taking him out of the football-starting lineup for the rest of the season. Nate had been waiting to get revenge on him ever since that incident. And now he saw his chance.  
  
They slowly crept up on him, laughing evilly as they neared him. Edge immediately sprung to his feet ready to fight them. "Don't make me wreck you, asshole" Edge growled. Nate merely scoffed at this and lunged at him. Edge easily deflected his attempt by side stepping and then countered with a well-placed punch to his jaw. One of the cronies then also made an attempt at him but ended up like Nate on the ground. The third one stayed back for a minute before trying to land a punch on Edge, only to be met with a kick to the stomach and punch to the jaw. Edge stared at them as they lay there on the ground then turned and walked away. As he did though, he failed to see Nate get up start after him. Edge heard running and turned to face him but, already too late, got greeted by a fist in the stomach and fell to the ground moaning in pain. Nate wasted no time in jumping on top of him and pummeling him. Right before he was about to smash Edge's head in completely, He stood over him letting out a diabolical laugh and then, in a moment of pure cockiness, uttered "Any last words?" As the words left his mouth, something happened. Two long metal spikes shot up out of Edge's wrist and penetrated Nate's chest, leaving him breathless.  
  
It took a couple of seconds for Edge to get over the shock, but he quickly retracted them, allowing Nate's body to fall to the ground. Edge slowly got up, his mind trying to comprehend what just happened. He had just shot metal spiked out of his wrists, had he not? To make sure he wasn't just dreaming this, he tried to send them out again, this time out of his hands. As he focused on doing so, two long spikes shot out again. "How is this possible?" he asked aloud. "People don't normally shoot metal spikes out of their bodies" he thought aloud "Why am I doing it?" As he thought about it he soon remembered something. He remembered a story about one person who was talking about how they discovered their mutation. They were in a fight and they suddenly sent strong blast of energy at their opponent. Had he just done the same? Was he a mutant? "I guess I am" Edge slowly said. He stood there for a minute in silence. Then, without a sound, he picked up his stuff and continued his journey.  
  
It was about a moth before he finally got good control of his powers but even then it was still very easy to make mistakes with them. He was now living by a railroad station in upstate New York and resorted to stealing food. He was out walking around one day when by chance he happened to knock into someone. "Sorry" he said meekly, turning to whomever it was he just bumped into to apologize. As he faced him, he was taken back by the teens very built state and the leather jacket with patches and spikes on it. "No problem" The boy said dryly, looking over Edge like a train wreck. "What are you doing here?" "Nothing" Edge replied coolly. "Wanna go grab something to eat" The boy asked. "Sure" and with that they were off. They went down to a local burger joint and started up a conversation. Edge told Tripp all about himself and Tripp told Edge about himself. They soon decided to band together for protection. After that, the rest was history.  
  
They soon met up with the rest of their fellow mutant outcasts and fought against the injustices of the world. Their work took them across the world to many different countries. They even ended up helping some of them by freeing them from fascist dictators or corrupt governments. Quite an accomplishment for a groups of teens that didn't even have a high school education. As Edge was remembering all this, a rather peculiar light suddenly interrupted his thoughts. It was blinding and seemed to come right for him. Edge stood their confused as it neared him. As it did, he started to see glimpses of things to come: he saw a groups of teens, one was fuzzy and blue, one wore big red glasses, one with fiery red hair and whole group of them that possessed mutant powers. The light suddenly seemed to get brighter and brighter until suddenly a loud bang was heard.  
  
Edge snapped back to reality, his hands and face sweaty. He soon realized that he was dreaming and started to calm down. As he calmed down, he heard the footsteps come up the stairs and the all to familiar sound of the door slamming. He got up to see who it was. "Yo! Anyone else home?" called a rough voice. "Rocky" He thought immediately. He came to the front of the building to catch Rocky rifling through the food Edge brought home. "What's with all the healthy crap?" Rocky asked indignantly as Edge merely smirked and responded "Oh come on! You need to eat at least one thing that's good for you. No matter what you think, you cant live on frozen dinners and beer" Rocky simply snorted at this and grabbed a bag of chips as he walked out of the room. As he did though, his eyes met Edge's and they seemed to share a mutual agreement and as they both nodded their heads. Edge knew that Rocky would eat some of the fruit he brought home. Although he was stubborn, he did try to take care of himself. Edge was sorta like a big brother to the rest of the kids in the house. They knew they could ask him for advice or for a favor anytime. Edge kinda liked that. At first they seemed to get on his nerves a lot but soon they grew on him. It was kinda like a family. It was comforting to know that people cared about you and what happened to you.  
  
Later that evening, the rest of the group returned and they all sat down to a dinner that mainly consisted of vodka and frozen meals but by the standards in which they were living, it was damn good. A couple of other homeless teens joined them as well, being that they had food to spare. After dinner, they all relaxed, Plasma and rocky listening to some music, Shade and vortex had gone back to their rooms to meditate, Tripp, Edge and Hydro going to a little room in the back of the building that they used for band practice while the rest decided to hang back in the main area of the building and chilling. Eventually the all grew tired and returned to their rooms to sleep. As Edge climbed into bed, He couldn't help but wonder what his earlier dreams had meant. Although very troubling, he soon stopped thinking about it and laid his head down to sleep. "Well, another day, another victory for the outcasts" he spoke silently and fell asleep.  
  
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Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to read and rate! Peace out! 


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